I’ve always loved decorating for holidays, but have never enjoyed it as much as I do now that I have kiddos who ooh and ahh over every little detail. I certainly care about making seasonal decorations look pretty, but as a mom I’m more interested in fostering creativity and a love for crafting. That means our home is inevitably decorated with lots of special decorations made by tiny hands, which might not be the prettiest to look at, but are much more special than the paper or plastic decorations you can find at the store.

Besides, it’s their home too!

Now that Lucy (age four) is old enough to want to craft and help decorate, I’ve been looking for preschool crafts that Lucy would enjoy, but would also look nice hanging up in our home. Now you might not think TP-roll monsters look that nice, but hey, I thought they were pretty cool! And it’s safe to say Lucy is obsessed with them.

Besides how cute they are, I also love that these projects use materials you can find on nature walks, in your household supplies, and also present great opportunities to learn about color blending and to develop fine motor skills. Just don’t forget a drop cloth!

I’m not sure if it’s the cooler weather and resulting hibernation or what, but Christmastime always seems to be the perfect time for crafting! As you might have noticed from my holiday house tour, I prefer a handmade touch for our Christmas decorations, so each year I make something new for our home. I thought you all might like to see what kind of holiday crafts I’ve done in the past, so I’ve rounded up my favorite projects I’ve shared at A Beautiful Mess and linked to them right here.

Top: Creative Gift Wrapping Ideas / I grabbed supplies from around the house to make extra beautiful gifts for friends and family. Did you notice the orange mesh I stole from a bag of clementines?

Above Left: Star Light Holiday Decoration / This star light was so easy to put together! You may have noticed it lighting up our desk in our holiday home tour.

Above Right: Simple Winter Village / I didn’t have the gusto for a gingerbread house last year, so I made this little village out of cardboard instead! It’s backlit with a strip of LED uplights.

Above left: Porcelain Holiday Trees / These little tree cones are simple to make with the provided cone template and some air dry clay. I used LED tea lights inside for a festive glow.

Above Left: Homemade Cards + Tags / If you like to give handmade, but your family isn’t so into handmade gifts, this is the perfect compromise! Create handmade cards and tags for your store-bought gifts.

Above Right: Dried Citrus Ornaments / While simmering citrus and spices on the stove for a fresh scented home, why not slice up some extra pieces to dry for ornaments?

Above Left: Cake and Beverage Stencil / This is the perfect decoration for a simple naked cake or pan of brownies. I also dusted a design on the top of my homemade latte!

Above Right: Homemade Holiday Garlands / So many garland ideas, so little time! My favorite is the “PEACE” one which hangs near my front door and kitchen sink.

Things are coming along nicely in the dollhouse! I still feel like there’s so much to do, but comparing this post with my last one about the dollhouse, I can see how much progress I’ve made! I have a list of things that need completed on the structure (interior and exterior) and I plan to have it finished before Thanksgiving. (That’s next week! Yikes!) After the structure is complete, it’s on to furnishing and acessorizing. Then when it’s all finished, I’ll be so sad. Maybe I will do another? But for now, let’s talk about the hallway!

As I mentioned before, you can see the true before pictures on Facebook here. But the photo above shows what the space looked like after the floors were done, the walls primed and glued in position, and the left wall wallpapered with a doorway in place. This hallway could be dead space in the dollhouse because it’s where the stairs go, blocking the rear area, but instead I decided to tuck away a fun feature: a window seat!

I built the window seat out of two pieces of 1.5″ wide craft wood I already had in my stash. I just used super glue to attach them together and then to the end of the hallway. I didn’t worry about making it fit absolutely perfectly, because I would be adding trim.

Another detail in the hallways space I had planned from the beginning was a stained glass window. To make this, I added the plexiglass panes to my painted dollhouse kit windows and laid a template beneath it. (I used a stained glass window image I found online and tweaked it to fit my window in Photoshop.) I made the leaded lines with tiny strips of golfer’s tape. I flipped the window over and added lines to the other side of the window as well. Then I filled in the designated spaces with yellow glass paint and clear glass paint to look like real stained glass.

Here’s what the window looks like in place from the outside. It drives me crazy because I’m new to this world of miniatures, and sometimes it’s only when I take photos and view the items enlarged (like this window) that I can see all the tiny imperfections. Oh well.

Below you can see the hallways from the inside with the window installed, wallpaper on the walls, trim in place, and even a tiny cushion on the window seat. I made the cushion out of foam board for the base and chipboard and quilt batting for the top. The right side of the window seat will be block by the top set of stairs, so I wasn’t super concerned with making the trim on the seat perfectly spaced.

I’ll probably tuck a couple of tiny pillow back there for when the dolls are lounging around reading books or whatnot. You know, just doin’ doll stuff. Once the stairs are in place, you won’t be able to see it super well, so it will be a special little hiding place!